20 Weeks

Yay!! I am officially at the halfway point in this pregnancy.  I never imagined being here and it's wonderful to know that moving forward I will be more pregnant than I have weeks left in the pregnancy.  This has been a goal I have been counting down to and it felt like it would never get here.  The next goal is 28 weeks which is the point where my doctor's office breathes a sigh of relief.

At this point I have been consistently feeling movement since about 18weeks 4 days.  It's an amazing feeling to have this baby moving and kicking inside me.  She isn't super active, but I usually feel here several times a day. At first the only time I could feel her was when I laid down on my back and relaxed. Then I could feel her kicking a little, but mostly just rolling.  And let me tell you, that is one weird feeling!! It's almost a combination of that feeling you get when you go through a steep dip in the road or on a roller coaster and a tickle.  Her favorite position is to lay across my stomach and face towards my back with her legs all curled up. I can tell when she is laying like this because I get an ache on my right side or the left side and if I push on my belly it's a little bit harder there.

Movements now are beginning to change.  I am starting to be able to feel her when I am sitting and a few times now when I am standing.  Yesterday was interesting because I kept getting this funny bump right near my belly button and I couldn't figure out what it was.  It happened like three times throughout the day and I finally decided she either had the hiccups or I was having a muscle spasm of my own.  I still don't know for sure, but would definitely be neat if it was her having the hiccups.

So far I still have not gained any weight.  I have been holding steady at the same weight for about 4 or 5 weeks now.  I have a little bit of a baby bump, but I would think at 5 months my belly should be a little bigger.  I suspect that later I will find myself being especially big.  The only problem I am having right now is that I am just not that hungry.  I do eat, but it doesn't take much to fill me up and some days I don't have much of an appetite.  Right now it feels like such a chore to figure out what to feed myself each day.  I think maybe I am just frustrated with trying to find the right combination of foods to fit my diet and to keep my sugars at a good level.

Tomorrow I have an OB appointment.   I am sure it will be a normal checkup.  I will have to let them know that the Endo doctor has put me on insulin at night before bed.  So far that has been going on.  My morning and breakfast numbers have been good.  I have added a little bit more carbs to my lunch meal so that number has increased a little and my dinner numbers are still a little up and down.  I see the Endo doctor next week and have to go in for blood work for my monthly thyroid check.

Other than that there isn't much happening.  My friends are getting together here at my house tomorrow to plan the baby shower.  We pretty much know what we are going to do, so it's mostly a meet and greet so everyone can meet each other and for them to be able to divvy up the work and costs between them.  I am thrilled that so many people want to help and are as excited about this baby as we are.

Oh ... we did do some other baby stuff this week.  Steve and I put our crib and dressers on layaway this week. We wanted to just buy them, but unfortunately we don't have room yet in the baby's room.  We are still working on getting our attic cleaned out and organized so that we can make room for baby stuff.  Right now the baby's room is being used as temporary storage while we sort everything out.  We are getting there, slowly but surely. But, back to baby purchases.  We also ordered our glider and it will take 10-12 weeks because we picked the wood and fabric we wanted.  Baby bedding has been decided upon, although not purchased yet and Steve has decided how he wants to paint the baby room.  This is one of the things I am letting him have control of because I can't paint and I want him to be as much a part of all of this as possible.  And he gets to help make all the decisions on the big purchases.  Usually I do the research and pick a few things I like and then let him choose from a couple of options or I pass the ideas by him and get his approval.  We really do make a great team and he is wonderful!! I think it's pretty cute when he decides that he wants to start looking at stuff and he gets online and starts showing me all this cute stuff he finds.

We still have some major work we are trying to get done in the house before the baby comes.  The biggest indoor project is to get her closest redone.  This means new drywall, mud and tape, and new electrical.  Right now Steve is working on replacing all of the bedroom doors upstairs so that they all match and latch properly (an issue we currently have).  He already replaced some lighting fixtures and we have a new one for the baby's room too, but he will put that up during the painting process. We ordered a fence for outside and a shed and we are just waiting for those to be installed.  We've been told by the end of June it should be happening.  The only other projects we really want to do is get a deck put on the back of the house, close in our little back porch and make it into a pantry.  We are hoping to have that done by the end of the summer, but we will see.

Other big news for us is that we are going to Disney in 2 1/2 weeks.  We are taking my mom and my 7 year old nephew with us.  We usually do a summer vacation with them but last year we didn't take one because of our IVF and next year we probably won't take a vacation because the baby will be too young.  And this is probably the last year we will be able to take any type of expensive vacation, so we decided to go all out. We are very excited and I can't wait to post pictures and stuff when we get back.

And finally ... here is a 20 week belly picture:

Anatomy Scan

Today was our big anatomy scan.  I am currently 18 weeks and 4 days so Steve and I were both hoping we would be able to find out the baby's gender.  My appointment was at 9 am which mean I had to be up around 7:30 to shower and do all that stuff. I was supposed to drink 16 oz of water an hour before the ultrasound and drink it in less than 15 minutes - no problem.

We got to the appointment and didn't have to wait very long to go back.  The first thing the ultrasound tech said was that my bladder wasn't full enough. I told her I drank 16 oz of water and haven't peed since before I started drinking the water.  She said a full bladder helps make the baby straighten up and right now the baby was curled up in a ball.  So she said I might have to come back again in a few weeks to repeat the scan. Darn, that would be so horrible to have to go back and get to see my baby again.

She said she would scan as much as she could and go from there.  So she started to scan the baby's arms and abdomen, heart and brain.  She kept saying everything looked perfect and baby was measuring right on target. She seemed pleased with everything so we were too.  She started to scan the spine and said she would have to do it in small sections because the baby was curled up and she couldn't see the very bottom of the spine and again said we would have to come back in a few weeks.  Then all of a sudden the baby decided to move a little bit and instead of being crouched down with legs drawn up, baby stretched its legs out and she was able to get the bottom of the spine and leg measurements.

Then she asked us if we wanted to know the gender if she was able to see and we said yes.  So she looked and showed us in between the legs and said it looked like a girl cause she wasn't really seeing any boy parts.  Then she scanned a few more things and got a better shot at the parts and confirmed again that there were not any boy parts.  So ... we are having a baby girl!!

In total the ultrasound only took like 20 minutes and at the end she wasn't sure if we would end up having to come back for another scan in a few weeks or not.  Either way I will be having more than the average number of ultrasounds because of my gestational diabetes, but those won't really start until closer to 30 weeks.  For now the baby is healthy looking and right on track. We are starting to decide on our final baby name - we've had a few that we like.  I won't tell you our final decision yet but our top two contenders are Grace Elizabeth and Madelyn Faith.

16 Weeks

Today I am 16 weeks.  It's exciting to be just a few weeks away from the half way point.  I had lots of appointments this week - both the OB and the Endo doctor. My appointment with the OB went well. We had to decide if we wanted to do some optional testing.  The first was cystic fibrosis testing and the second is a quad screening test that tests for possible birth defects.  After much discussion, Steve and I decided that we were not interested in this testing.  Basically our reasoning is that nothing we learned would change what we did about this pregnancy and in the end it's not worth the worry and stress that it would cause.  So we are going to enjoy this pregnancy and pray for a healthy baby and be grateful for whatever it is God has gifted us with.

I also got to schedule my anatomy ultrasound.  This is also the ultrasound where we can find out the sex of our baby.  At first Steve and I didn't want to know what we were having.  We are so happy and thrilled to be having a baby that we honestly do not care what sex the baby is.  However, both of our parents and most of our friends are against us waiting to find out.  Also, we know that because of the gestational diabetes we will end up having more ultrasounds than normal and at some point we risk the chance of finding out by accident.  And .. we have agreed that it's better to just find out now rather than wait. And .. I just don't know if I can wait :)

This morning I had an appointment with the Endocrinologist who is monitoring my sugars for the gestational diabetes.  So far things look great except for my 1 hour after breakfast level.  For some reason no matter what I eat within the diet parameters my sugars are over the 140 norm.  He said he would like me to eat 50% protein and 50% carbs and see if that can correct the problem.  If not he said we might do a little bit of insulin only at breakfast.  I am to continue monitoring my sugars and sending them in to him and follow up in 4 weeks.  If anything needs to happen in the mean time they will call and let me know.

At this point my symptoms have pretty much gone away.  I still have occasional queasiness and dry heave in the morning but it's like 1 day out of every 3 or 4.  I am less tired than before and feel like I have a lot more energy.  My sex drive has returned as well.  But my boobs are growing more and hurt again when I had been feeling some relief in that area the past few weeks.  I am now wearing a 42E in my bras and I know if I intend to breastfeed that these bras just are not going to cut it.   Of course Steve isn't complaining about this growth and I wouldn't be either if they didn't hurt so darn bad .. lol.

I have also been looking at bunches of baby stuff.  I am trying to find the patterns and stuff I like for the stroller and the car seat.  Basically trying to figure out all of the things that I like and want to register for.  But let me tell you - it's overwhelming!! I can't believe how much baby stuff there is out there and how many things you have to choose from.  Thank goodness for a few good friends who have helped me determine what stuff is important and what we can do without.  I am looking forward to all that will be coming as we progress through this pregnancy. 

16 week belly picture: